Currently my sister and her husband are living with us as they wait for their new home to be built. Because we are together, often memories of our childhood come up and we talk and laugh about them.
The other day we were reminiscing about how all the children on our street would converge on to our front lawn and play together. After a big conflab about their next venture, they’d soar into action.
My father possessed a large box of boxing gloves, and the neighborhood boys loved to have boxing matches (or wrestling matches). This often culminated with boys going home with black eyes and bleeding noses! Did anyone worry about it? No. Did concerned parents call up and complain? No. The boys were back the next day for another round!
Now we live in a different world. Many parents today would be calling the CPS to complain about these parents allowing their boys to be so rough, coming home with torn clothes and bleeding faces! But these boys loved every minute of it. They were boys! And the parents thought nothing of it! They wanted their boys to be boys. To grow up to be men who could face the struggles of life and know how to take a blow!
What a life these children had. On our back paddock they’d set up racing tracks. They wrecked every bicycle in the neighborhood. Each time my parents bought me a bicycle it would be in pieces in two weeks by the time my brother had finished with it.
They built underground tunnels that went for hundreds and hundreds of yards. It must have been good practice for when my brother later owned his own plumbing business.
Psalm 144:12 speaks of our “sons as plants, becoming great in their youth.” We don’t keep them like little boys. We train them to become mature and grow into manhood even in their youth.
Of course, they won’t be playing all the time. They are also learning how to work hard, how to finish a job, and take responsibility.
Make opportunities for your boys to be boys.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Painting: Susan Blackwood